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by Roger Grealy Kathie Herbert and Joy Connor did us proud in organising and running the afternoon around the local launch of Behrouz Boochani’s book, No Friend But The Mountains. As an interested observer I write to say what a professional group we have and what talented , hard working women Kathie and Joy are.Read more

Joy Connor and Marie Sellstrom, President of Rural Australians for Refugees, spent 2 days in Canberra meeting with politicians. They met with Russell Broadbent, sent Marise Payne a gift of Blue Mountains honey and a copy of Behrouz Boochani’s book and met with Julie Bishop. The meetings were facilitated by local member Susan Templeman.
Julie Bishop said that refugee advocates needed to lobby for more involvement by Australia in regional intercountry dialogue such as the ‘Bali Process’, if there is to be any kind of solution to forced migration. Read more

A few weeks ago two of Australia’s leading critics of successive governments’ asylum seeker policies have republished their contentious views on how to change the seemingly intractable position held by both the Government and the Opposition. Robert Manne, Emeritus Professor of Politics, La Trobe University and John Medadue, Former Secretary, Department of Immigration together with Frank Brennan SJ, Professor of Law, Australian Catholic University and Tim Costello, CEO World Vision Australia put forward their position in 2016.

BMRSG is posting these articles for discussion and does not endorse any position.

Joy Connor, Deputy Chair BMRSG visited politicians in Canberra with Marie Sellstrom President of Rural Australians for Refugees. First they met with Peter Dutton’s main advisor and an advisor then they met with Shayne Neumann, Ged Kearney, Sue Templeman and the Advisor to Kristina Keneally.
At these meetings they discussed Immigration Detention, the use of handcuffs on people seeking asylum when they went to medical and counselling appointments, SRSS, resettlement, The Amendments to the Migration Act, the RAR Statement on People Seeking Refuge and Asylum and the Andrew Wilkie Bill.Read more

Members of the Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group (BMRSG) took their campaign to the Windsor office of Macquarie MP, Susan Templeman, on Thursday, July 19.
The gathering was part of a national day of vigils held around Australia to mark the deaths of 12 male asylum seekers in permanent offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru.
Twelve empty chairs and 12 pairs of shoes were placed outside Ms Templeman’s office to represent the death of each of the young men. Many of the men, aged between 23 and 34 years old, died from suicide, including overdose and self-immolation.
The vigils, named ‘Five Years Too Many’, also marked the fifth consecutive year of refugees and asylum seekers being incarcerated in these centres, established on July 19, 2013.Read more